Cullen leads Rangers past Montreal for fourth straight win

January 07, 2007|The Morning Call

Matt Cullen scored his second goal of the game 13:55 into the third period and the New York Rangers extended their winning streak to four with a 4-3 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday in Montreal.

Cullen, who opened the scoring with his eighth goal midway through the first, gave New York its third and final lead with 6:05 remaining when he once again fired a hard wrist shot past goalie David Aebischer into the top of the net.

Sheldon Souray scored Montreal's third power-play goal 8:40 into the third to tie it at 3. Souray, who has scored 11 of his 14 goals with the man advantage, got his own rebound and drove a second slap shot past Henrik Lundqvist as Montreal drew even for the second time.

Lundqvist made 21 saves for the Rangers, whose winning streak has come after a seven-game skid, New York's longest losing streak since late in the 2003-04 season.

Rangers defenseman Michal Rozsival, who assisted on Martin Straka's 22nd goal in the second to put New York up 2-0, gave the Rangers a 3-2 lead just 38 seconds into the third when he took Straka's pass from the right corner and beat Aebischer with a slap shot from the point.

Mark Streit and Tomas Plekanec also scored power-play goals in the second as Montreal came back from a 2-0 deficit.

Lundqvist, who faced only three shots in the first when the Rangers held an 11-3 advantage, made his seventh straight start since being sidelined for four games because of the flu.

The illness took a toll Saturday on the Canadiens, who were without captain Saku Koivu -- Montreal's leading scorer with 39 points -- and right wing Guillaume Latendresse as a result of a virus that has recently hit several players.

Mikhail Grabovski, recalled along with Maxime Lapierre from Hamilton of the AHL on Friday, made his NHL debut centering a line with Alex Kovalev and Sergei Samsonov.

The rookie had a goal disallowed in the second because Mike Johnson batted the puck to him with his hand.

Cullen opened the scoring 10:20 in when he drove in on Aebischer and fired a hard wrist shot over the goalie's left shoulder into the top right corner.

Straka made it 2-0 with a power-play goal 6:36 into the second, but Montreal came back to tie it on Streit's third goal at 10:25 and Plekanec's sixth at 14:14.

Zach Parise also had a goal for the Devils, but it was Brodeur's nearly flawless performance that made the difference. Brodeur stopped 33 shots to prevent the Senators, who had won five of six, from earning at least one point for the first time in seven games.

Scott Gomez added a pair of assists for New Jersey.

Ray Emery made 26 saves for Ottawa, but the Devils won their second consecutive game and fifth in six tries. Their only loss during that stretch came in a shootout against the New York Rangers.

Patrick Eaves ended a personal scoring drought with a goal for Ottawa, and Tom Preissing also scored.

Both teams are back in action Sunday. Ottawa is at home against Philadelphia, while the Devils play in Montreal.

New Jersey jumped ahead 6:13 into the game when Parise took a pass from Travis Zajac and beat Emery from close range.

The Senators took advantage of a New Jersey turnover to tie the score later in the period. Dean McAmmond stripped David Hale of the puck in Devils zone and Christoph Schubert fed Eaves in the slot. His low shot beat Brodeur for Eaves' first goal since Dec. 2, a stretch of 17 games.

New Jersey killed off a penalty early in the second before Gionta redirected Hale's point shot to restore the Devils' lead.

Justin Williams had his team-leading 20th goal and an assist, and Eric Staal scored his first goal in 10 games for the Hurricanes, who were shut out in their previous two games. Carolina scored its first three goals in a 4-minute, 29-second span and sent the Islanders to their season-worst sixth straight loss.

Trent Hunter and Miroslav Satan scored for New York, which outshot Carolina 35-27.

Dmitri Kalinin also scored for the Sabres, who avoided their first three-game losing skid of the season.

Capitals 3, Thrashers 2, OT: At Washington, Alexander Semin scored his second goal of the game with 17.7 seconds remaining in overtime, for the Capitals.

Semin took a spinning backhanded feed from Steve Eminger, skated down the slot and put a high shot over goalie Kari Lehtonen's right shoulder, giving the Capitals their second straight victory with his 21st goal.